Upper Tennessee River, October 2024

[colbysmith]

[colbysmith]

After a quiet night on the dock at the Lenoir City Park, we woke to a foggy sunrise. Underway at 9am and into the Fort Loudoun Lock at 9:30. Some debris at the approach, in the lock, and at the bottom leaving, that we had to push through. But the dam flow was less than half what it was when we locked up a week ago, so much calmer water. Had a nice 2mph current push most the way down to Kingston, where we are anchored this evening. Steve and Karen on Sea Spray parted company with us today, as they picked up their pace to head back to Harrison Bay State Park where they'll load out and head back home to California. They've been on this side of the Rockies for two months as they started out cruising the Erie Canal. It's just Mystery Girl, Sunbeam and C-Traveler now. We're anchored back at the same place we were a little over a week ago, between Interstate 40 and the Kingston Fossil Plant. We will spend a few days on the Clinch River now, perhaps up as far as Clinton, TN. We spent today back on the muddy Tennessee River, until we turned off on the Clinch River at Kingston. Back in clear water while we are on the Clinch.

To see some photos, go to my blog at FindPenquins: https://findpenguins.com/77ono0cdqci52/trip/upper-tennessee-river

[colbysmith]

This morning we left our anchorage in a fog, but it cleared up after a little less than an hour. Must be a fishing tournament going on, as quite a few bass boats were buzzing around pretty fast. Kind of foolish actually with the fog. Anyway, we continued on the Clinch River, passing the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, the Clinch River Industrial Park, through the Melton Hill Lock, and around the DOE land in the Bethel Valley. This afternoon we anchored at river mile 34 in the Walker Branch. This winding river also took us pass the Carbon Rivers (Powerhouse) and Blackburn Farm Pumpkin Patch Fall Festival. Carbon Rivers makes wind turbine blade recycling and upcycling a reality with support from the DOE. We will pass through Oak Ridge, Tennessee tomorrow, which is where the Manhattan Project thrived. I wanted to say, the lock personnel we have come in contact with have been great. Today's lockage was an example. Melton Hill Lock is pretty much on request only, and very rarely used for commercial traffic. Normally you have to contact a week in advance and they tend to only open on Monday through Thursday. We worked out a lockage today with the lockmaster from the Fort Loudoun Lock (who is also responsible for this lock), two days ago.

[colbysmith]

Another cold night and foggy morning. We left our anchorage in fog this morning, but again it all cleared up within an hour. The Clinch River offers a peaceful, scenic and winding river between the Tennessee River and Clinton, TN. Many "ordinary" homes along the shore, and some very large nice homes as well. The River does continue up to Norris Lake, but the dam there does not have a lock, and the river is not marked or dredged for navigation past Clinton. I was a little dismayed that neither Oak Ridge or Clinton offered any kind of city dock where we could stop and explore the area. Oak Ridge has a rowing team and the river front there has a race course (currently shut down for the season), and what appears to be an announcement stand by the city park. We passed the TVA Bull Run Fossil Plant, and just beyond the center of Clinton we anchored on the back side of Clinton Island. Tomorrow we'll head back towards the Tennessee River.

[thataway]

Colby I believe that Oak Ridge (Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration secured site.) is still an active nuclear site and a restricted area. I suspect that even your retired military ID would not get you on the property. When we went up the Clinch River, we anchored off the shore at Clinton, and were able to take the dog ashore both in the afternoon, evening and the next morning. Another night we anchored in an oxbow off Oak Ridge base on the civilian side--there were security patrols 24/7 on the parameter road. Also there was fairly loud machinery running all of the time.

Marie's mother was one of the "Girls of Atomic City", a book written about the women workers on the Manhattan project. She was secretary to the Commanding General during the Manhattan project. Marie and her mother tried to sweet talk the guards into letting them drive by the housing that they occupied for several years of lockdown on the base. No go--You had security clearance for one of the companies who are currently working on abe working active nuclear projects to get on the property.

[colbysmith]

Interesting information Bob. I'm sure your mom-in-law had some interesting stories to tell. Assuming she was at liberty to tell them. There were several museums in the area that I think would have been interesting to go to if we had more time, and a place to dock. Looks like the main down town area, or area they were located, was about 4.5 miles from the River. We did read just a little bit about the Manhattan Project when we were in Knoxville at the Eastern Tennessee Museum. In any case, we are having a good trip this month. Still seeing a lot just from the river. The current and debris has been manageable. The muddy color in the Tennessee has taken a bit away from it's beauty. But I'm glad we chose to continue with our plans to come. We changed plans to just do the section from Harrison Bay up to Knoxville and the beginning of the Tennessee River, giving us time to explore the Little Tennessee River, the Emory River, and the Clinch River, all worth the time! We'll save the section between Harrison and Guntersville for another time. Colby

[colbysmith]

Another foggy start to the day. I suppose to be expected when the water temperature is 58F and the air over it is 49F. Makes for some eerie pictures though. So today we turned around and went back downstream on the Clinch River, and are now anchored within sight of the Melton Hill Lock and Dam. We have reservations to be locked down tomorrow at 10am. While we retraced our track back from yesterday, we still saw or learned a few new things. First, the rowing tower in Oak Ridge I posted a photo of yesterday, is the UT Battelle Tower. It was built with a donation from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the City. The river here offers a nice calm channel for rowing club races, and I guess there are quite a few national races that are held here. There is also a very nice walking/biking path along the river front. Also, something we did not see coming upstream (we were looking for a spot to anchor and were to close to the shore to see over the trees), this time we saw a building with a dome top. Doing a little more investigation, we learned that this is the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Energy Systems Test Complex. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more information on this particular building. While the Clinch and Emory Rivers wind back and forth around much of the land in this area, it is all part of the Laboratory grounds and has a lot of history with the Manhattan Project. In fact, a good portion of the shore on the north side of the Clinch River, from Oak Ridge to Kingston, has Government no tress passing signs posted. Arriving at the Melton Hill Lock and Dam late this afternoon, Sunbeam anchored in a cove close by, while Mystery Girl anchored just off shore of the Milton Hill Campground. I "docked" C-Traveler next to the campground in very shallow water along the campground shore walkway. (There is a low metal pipe railing to tie up to, but with only 3' of water, it's likely meant for shallow draft boats, which we are. 🙂 Rosanne enjoyed walking while I did a little kayaking. Then we went to find a geocache. After supper, we moved about 50 yards off shore to anchor.

Reminder, photos that go along with these posts can be found on my blog at:
https://findpenguins.com/77ono0cdqci52/trip/upper-tennessee-river

[River Rat]

Colby Smith, sorry to have missed you. Our 22CA is moored on the Little Tenn which joins Tennessee River at MM602. The lock master posted a photo of your 4 vessel group locking through. If you are still in the area please reply with a best means of contacting you.
Best,
Cap'n Bill

[colbysmith]

[colbysmith]

Chose to leave an hour later this morning, so while we departed in the fog again, it had lifted within about 15 minutes. Had a short 500 yards or so to the Melton Hill lock, which was ready and open for us. I never get tired of the mechanics of locking, but maybe you are getting tired of the locking photos. lol. I think this is a lift/drop of around 65 feet. This lock is also a slight bit bigger than the Fort Loudoun and Watts Bar locks, the other two locks we've been through on this trip. We continued down the Clinch River, and took a detour on Poplar Creek, which runs close to the K-25 History Center, all part of the Manhattan Project. We were hoping there might be access to this center, as it is open to the public. But no dice. (Or I should say, no easy access anywhere). Still it was a scenic run up the creek. The fall colors are really starting to show. Passing Kingston, the muddy water of the Tennessee River has made it's way in a short ways on the Clinch River. Back on the Tennessee River, we are now back in the brown color until we load out. (When we started up stream, we didn't run into the dirty water until Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. It has now made it's way down past Harrison Bay, as reported by Steven and Karen on Sea Spray when they loaded out two days ago. However, it seems most the debris has also flushed downstream, as other than a few logs here and there, we haven't seen much since coming through the Fort Loudoun Lock. We are currently anchored just off the Tennessee River in Caney Creek.

[colbysmith]

It was a quiet night in Caney Creek last night. And not much fog this morning. (Air temperature 50F and water 63F.) Sunbeam and C-Traveler made a quick stop at Blue Springs Marina today to put on some fuel and water. Didn't see anything else new, so only a couple of photos. We are anchored in coves just above the Watts Bar lock. Plan to lock down tomorrow morning at 10am, but know of two tows coming down the river from Fort Loudoun. Hopefully we won't have to wait for them. The water here on the Tennessee seems to be starting to clear up somewhat. Still brown however.

[colbysmith]

Woke up to a little bit of fog again this morning, but it burned off quickly. We headed over to Watts Bar lock and the lock was ready for us. Already had one small fishing boat in it that got locked down with us. Saw a lot of turtles today, but no photos as they seemed pretty shy, and would jump off their logs as soon as we got close. (Still almost 100' away.) Saw a pair of Bald Eagles today, and managed to capture a couple photos of one. (Wish I had a telephoto lens so many times!) I had seen Bald Eagles a couple other times this trip. Plenty of Blue Herons as well. And some Vultures. Watched some linemen and a crane either working to construct some towers, or take them down. The water seems to be clearing up some, but still brown. Not a lot of current, less than 1 mph. And we didn't see any debris. Also, the river seems to be 4-5' lower than it was when we passed through here two weeks ago. This evening Mystery Girl and us are anchored in Robert's Slough on Hiwassee River. Sunbeam is anchored in Sale Creek off the Tennessee River. This is C-Traveler's last night on the water, for the season. Tomorrow Rosanne and I will head to Harrison Bay State Park to load out and start the drive home. Mystery Girl and Sunbeam will spend a few more days exploring branches off the Tennessee River. Jeff and C-Play are already home and have got a good start on repairing the damage to his hull. Steve and Karen with Sea Spray should just about be back home in California. Even with the current and debris caused by the flooding from Hurricane Helene, we've had a great cruise. Steve has referred to it as Bill and Colby's Excellent Tennessee River Adventure. Colby

[colbysmith]

632 miles, 147 gallons of gas, for an efficient fuel burn of 4.3mpg. 125 hours of outboard run time. That is the stats from my Upper Tennessee River Cruise! Almost all of that was at 5mph. Ok, so today I did put it up on plane for about an hour to blow out the carbon and get back to the launch ramp quicker. lol. Sunbeam and Mystery Girl are still adding to their stats as they spend a couple more days on the River exploring. Mystery Girl had already been there a few days before us, so he'll have several more miles and hours. This morning, while still anchored in Roberts Slough, I captured a photo of a Tug passing us by out on the Hiwassee River. We (Rosanne and I) pulled anchor, said goodby to Bill, and then headed back to Harrison Bay State Park, taking us back by the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant. Along the way, we spotted several Bald Eagles, several Blue Herons, and some Egrets in the top of some trees. Got back to the park, got the truck and trailer, and loaded out C-Traveler. She'll need some cleaning when we get back home. We stopped this evening at a Cracker Barrel in Paducah, Ky. Love my Cracker Barrels. Good meal, and they allow Rv's to park overnight in their parking lots. 470 miles left to home, and I plan for us to get there tomorrow evening. This will end this blog, and for that matter, our boating season for the year. Once home, I'll have the annual maintenance and winterization cleaning to do before putting C-Traveler away until next spring (or earlier.) Colby

Final reminder, photos can be found at my blog at: https://findpenguins.com/77ono0cdqci52/trip/upper-tennessee-river

[Hunkydory]

Colby, thank you for sharing this cruise with all the photos & video. I’ve followed Bill’s Inreach too & the combination almost puts you there with the group. We hope to see you & Bill next year either in Washington or Alaska or even possibly both.

Jay

[thataway]

I also want to thank Colby and the others, for the virtual journey, and bringing memories of trips we took on the Tennessee River.